DUOSIDA Level 2 charger, EVSE, L2, EV, 16 Amp 220 volt - 240 volt - PORTABLE
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I have one of these and use it all the time. I took the the factory supplied one out of the car and carry the Duosida only. It can plug into 240 V or 120V outlets (with an adapter). I also made a couple of adapters to fit various oven, dryer, or high amperage outlets i might encounter when visiting friends/family. It runs at 16 amps and can be throttled down to 12 or 8 amps through the ED's on board charger. I even use a 12 Ga extension cord (100 ft) converted to 240 V (cut off ends and put on appropriate connectors) on a regular basis when I drive it to work. It is not watertight as the factory charger is, so i tuck it under or inside car when it rains. I have been extremely happy with it the last six months.
As a correction, it is the ED's charger that is throttling down, not the EVSE. The EVSE is merely an electric outlet (or in your case, extension cord) with safety features, including communicating to the car's charger the maximum current that can be safely drawn from it. This is a redundancy in the case of Smart since it's charger only draws 15 amps at most - less than any 240 volt circuit it would be plugged into.
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292 Posts
120v @ 20A Nema 5-20
Hey Bryan,
From what you wrote I'm not entirely clear on the 120v behaviour. Certainly [email protected] is full on, but...
Have you used your duosida / dostar EVSE in a nema 5-20 (120v with 20A) and does it supply 16A to the car? The internal settings are 8A or 12A or "max". I'd assume it should be would like to confirm.
The receptacle at my wife's office is a nema 5-20 (the one with the T shape on the neutral side and a regular vertical hole for the hot side). It would be nice if she could get a 30% charge rate boost on the 120v circuit.
Thanks!
Hey Bryan,
From what you wrote I'm not entirely clear on the 120v behaviour. Certainly [email protected] is full on, but...
Have you used your duosida / dostar EVSE in a nema 5-20 (120v with 20A) and does it supply 16A to the car? The internal settings are 8A or 12A or "max". I'd assume it should be would like to confirm.
The receptacle at my wife's office is a nema 5-20 (the one with the T shape on the neutral side and a regular vertical hole for the hot side). It would be nice if she could get a 30% charge rate boost on the 120v circuit.
Thanks!
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17 Posts
The adapter just takes one leg to neutral. The on board charger can operate at 240 or 120v. The EVSE can also operate on 240 or 120v. Just made a straight thru adapter from the Duosida's plug to a normal 15 amp wall plug. Should work the same with a 5-20 120v plug. Just use the dash control to limit charging to 12 or 8 amps if needed based on circuit capabilities. With one leg you would get about 1.8 KW of charging (or 1.4KW at 12 amps or 900 W at 8 amps).
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11,473 Posts
Ditto....I use this one with my Volt. I have one mounted in the garage which is plugged in 24/7 and I carry another with adapter in the car. I just leave the one the car came with in it's spot !! I too have used an extension cord and placed the unit on top of the front tire in the wheel well to protect it from rain.
I got this, had a 220 outlet installed and have used it over two months. It's dependable, shortens charge time down to 4.5 hours when at almost zero, so I like it. I bought it right from China for $162 with shipping. They asked me which plug I would like on it and we're prompt and polite with email and delivery.
Paul
Paul
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Has anyone experienced problems with these Duosida chargers? I bought one from Amazon a few weeks ago and it worked once. Now, when I plug it into the car, I hear a click from the car - like "oh, I had something plug in", but the rest of the charge cycle doesn't ever happen. I know the outlet is delivering 240v, and the factory 110 charger charges the car like it should. I also have taken my car to Mercedes and used their 240 charger, so it seems to me the only remaining variable is the charger. I'm still working with the seller on a replacement.
Mine was a little wonky for a day or two but now I make sure to plug it in all the way and fully seat it in the bottom of the jack. Haven’t had a problem since. Maybe there’s some dirt in the plug or the jack? Get a can of electronics cleaner and spray both out.
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2,298 Posts
It's 240v, and portable, but it's also a WEAK level 2 charger. If it were my decision, I'd spend more and buy a charger that AT LEAST pushes 30amps (40 or more is preferred, for future proofing). Only reason for a 16amp level 2 is if you have infrastructure restrictions. Otherwise, I recommend you seek more power.
The Smart ED internal circuitry is limited to 16 amps in the US on the 451 EDs. Money spent on more amps in an external charger are wasted here unless you intend on buying something else in the near future or purchase one of the newer models.
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Have you checked out the new model? Your statement does not apply to the newest smart electric models.
You’re right, fixed!
This is due to a minor design or assembly flaw in many 451 ED's. What happens is the rubber weather seal boot around the car's charger receptacle grips the charger plug latch hook and prevents it from dropping into the latch - even if the plug is pushed in all the way. When this happens, the plug's button will not be all the way up and the car will not charge (one of several safety measures in the SAE car charging standard).
The fix is to put some silicone spray, or a bit of plumbers silicone grease, on that boot and on the hook. And always make sure the plug button is all the way up and the car is charging before walking away!
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292 Posts
I had a similar problem with our AddEnergie EVSE in the garage. The vendor provided the same advice, which worked for a few days. They then replaced the silicone gasket in the EVSE plug. Same thing. Eventually they said "its in the garage, why don't you remove the gasket". No problems since.
Of course that's less use with a portable charger. We're on ours second MB charger. The first one developed a small leak and failed. The second one has been ok.
Hoping the DUOSIDA units end up being reliable, because I expect in a couple of years we'll need to replace the MB EVSE, but out of warranty.
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7 Posts
After continuing to experience a failure to charge, I returned my DUOSIDA and bought another unit that looks like it was built out of the exact same components. It worked fine until the temperature dropped down to single digits again, and I'm experiencing the same failure to charge. The factory charger works, though. These last two posts look like they might actually be the solution! As soon as the weather allows it, I'll take a closer look.
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